I’ve been a civilian now for about 6 months. Meaning that I’m no longer directly involved in the day-to-day operations of a professional theater company in South Florida. The theater community here is not terribly dense, so very quickly you know everyone’s name, what’s playing where, and who’s doing what. You’re not just in the loop; you are the loop — helping to turn news around, complete connections, and transmit data.

But spend some time away from that circuit, and there’s nothing but complete radio silence.

All of this is really just a fancy, over-long metaphor for the complete lack of “civilian” participation in the performing arts in this region. No wonder interest in theater appears to be diminishing among the young: there’s no outreach and scant information being pushed their way. How are new people supposed to get involved? How will recent transplants to the area find out that there’s actually a diverse, interesting arts scene here that’s worth supporting?

Because I am no longer scanning my Twitter-Matrix all day long, and because it’s no longer my job to stay on top of regional and national media trends, I hardly know what’s going on. What shows are playing? When are they running? If it weren’t for my still-looped contacts sending me occasional emails, I wouldn’t see any theater at all.

How is someone still finding their way ever going to make contact? It’s something I’m worried about, but not sure how to solve.